Center for the Neural Basis of CognitionCenter for the Neural Basis of Cognitionhttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/frontpage
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:59:53 +0000Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Managementen-gbCenter for the Neural Basis of Cognition http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbc
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbcThe CNBC is a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Our center leverages the strengths of the University of Pittsburgh in basic and clinical neuroscience and those of Carnegie Mellon in cognitive and computational neuroscience to support a coordinated cross-university research and educational program of international stature. In addition to our Ph.D. program in Neural Computation, we sponsor a graduate certificate program in cooperation with a wide variety of affiliated Ph.D. programs.

Within the CNBC, our over 200 world-class faculty and trainees are investigating the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to biological intelligence and behavior. Research topics include affective, cognitive, linguistic, perceptual, motor and social systems in both normal and disordered populations, as well as computational neuroscience. The CNBC also promotes the translation of findings from basic research into applications for medicine, education, robotics and artificial intelligence.

]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageSun, 24 May 2015 05:00:00 +0000Neuronal Menagerie: CMU CNBC researchers create large database of neurons and their properties.http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbc-faculty-member-marlene-cohen-receives-2015-university-of-pittsburgh-chancellors-distinguished-research-award
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbc-faculty-member-marlene-cohen-receives-2015-university-of-pittsburgh-chancellors-distinguished-research-awardCMU CNBC researchers led by CMU Interim Provost and Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences Nathan Urban and his former postdoctoral research associate Shreejoy Tripathy have created a database of types of neurons and their standardized activity. The data, culled from over 10,000 published papers, is available at www.neuroelectro.org and will allow neuroscientists studying the brain to search for known neural types that have the same properties and the published studies investigating those types. For more information, see here.]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageTue, 31 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000CNBC Faculty member Marlene Cohen receives 2015 University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Awardhttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbc-faculty-member-marlene-cohen-receives-2015-university-of-pittsburgh-chancellors-distinguished-research-award
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/cnbc-faculty-member-marlene-cohen-receives-2015-university-of-pittsburgh-chancellors-distinguished-research-awardPatrick Gallagher, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor awarded a dozen Pitt faculty members with 2015 chancellor’s awards for research, teaching and service. In the junior scholar category, CNBC faculty member, Marlene Cohen, assistant professor in the Pitt's Department of Neuroscience in the Dietrich school was awarded $2,000 cash prize and a $3,000 grant in support of her research. Chancellor Gallagher recgnized Marlen's research as “scientifically rigorous, highly creative and novel” work that is making a substantial impact on the field of sensory processing and perception. “Not only have you been extremely successful in obtaining funding for your research, but you have also amply demonstrated that you are an independent, creative and talented scientist who is emerging as one of the true leaders in your field,” he wrote. Read More...]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageWed, 18 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000Teaching Science to the Brain: Carnegie Mellon Scientists Discover How the Brain Learns the Way Things Workhttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/distinguished-university-of-pittsburgh-professor-of-computational-biology-and-professor-of-mathematics-receives-100000-mathematical-neuroscience-prize
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/distinguished-university-of-pittsburgh-professor-of-computational-biology-and-professor-of-mathematics-receives-100000-mathematical-neuroscience-prizeCarnegie Mellon University and CNBC members Marcel Just, the D. O. Hebb University Professor of Psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Robert Mason, senior research psychologist and lead author of the study have traced the brain processes that occur during the learning of technical concepts. Published in NeuroImage, the findings reveal how new technical knowledge is built up in the brain during the course of different learning stages. The findings foreshadow the capability to assess the effectiveness of instruction and efficiency of learning by monitoring changes in the brain. Read More...]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageTue, 17 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000Distinguished University of Pittsburgh Professor of Computational Biology and Professor of Mathematics receives $100,000 Mathematical Neuroscience Prize http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/distinguished-university-professor-of-computational-biolog-and-professor-of-mathematics-receives-100000-mathematical-neuroscience-prize
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/distinguished-university-professor-of-computational-biolog-and-professor-of-mathematics-receives-100000-mathematical-neuroscience-prizeCNBC faculty member and University of Pittsburgh Prof. Bard Ermentrout has been selected to be one of two winners who received the $100,000 Mathematical Neuroscience Prize, awarded by Israel Brain Technologies (IBT), a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance brain research and technology. The Mathematical Neuroscience Prize honors researchers worldwide who have significantly advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms of perception, behavior and thought through the application of mathematical analysis and theoretical modeling. The Prize ceremony was held March 11, 2015 at the BrainTech Conference, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Read More...]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageThu, 12 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000Carnegie Mellon Professor and CNBC Faculty Member Timothy Verstynen Identified A New Way Several Brain Areas Communicatehttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/analysis-of-neural-data-in-the-brain-initiative
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/analysis-of-neural-data-in-the-brain-initiativeDr. Timothy Verstynen and Kevin Jarbo, a Ph.D. student in psychology have identified a new pathway by which several brain areas communicate within the brain's striatum.

Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the findings illustrate structural and functional connections that allow the brain to use reinforcement learning to make spatial decisions, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Communication between these regions is important for abilities like how a baseball player is able to estimate where to swing his bat or how a person finds a car in a large parking lot filled with similar cars.

Knowing how these specific pathways work together provides crucial insight into how learning occurs. It also could lead to improved treatments for Parkinson's disease. Read More...

]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageWed, 04 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000Analysis of Neural Data in the Brain Initiative http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/analysis-of-neural-data-in-the-brain-initiative
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/analysis-of-neural-data-in-the-brain-initiativeThe federal Brain Initiative aims to revolutionize understanding of the human brain through development of innovative technologies. The new data being generated pose new challenges for statistical and machine learning methods. Carnegie Mellon University's Statisics Professor and CNBC faculty member Rob Kass chaired a working group of the American Statistical Association (pdf) that articulated these challenges. Together with Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D. (MIT and Harvard Medical School), they were interviewed by Sam Behseta Professor of Mathematics ( California State University, Fullerton) for Chance magazine. Kass and Brown’s book Analysis of Neural Data was published last year.]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageMon, 02 Mar 2015 05:00:00 +0000Carnegie Mellon University Research Lab Finds Intermediary Neuron Acts as Synaptic Cloaking Devicehttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/bringing-texture-to-flat-touchscreens-carnegie-mellon-and-northwestern-researchers-provide-new-insight-into-how-brain-understands-data-from-fingers
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/bringing-texture-to-flat-touchscreens-carnegie-mellon-and-northwestern-researchers-provide-new-insight-into-how-brain-understands-data-from-fingersResearchers Find That Somatostatin Neurons Regulate Synaptic Activity in the Neocortex

Joanna Urban-Ciecko, a research scientist in Alison Barth's Lab, noticed that the synapses in her experiments were not behaving the way that previous experimenters had reported. Prior studies reported that the synapses should be strong and reliable, and that they should always grow and strengthen in response to a stimulus. But the neurons Urban-Ciecko looked at were weak and unreliable. Read more....

]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageFri, 27 Feb 2015 05:00:00 +0000Bringing Texture to Flat Touchscreens: Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern Researchers Provide New Insight Into How Brain Understands Data From Fingershttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/bringing-texture-to-flat-touchscreens-carnegie-mellon-and-northwestern-researchers-provide-new-insight-into-how-brain-understands-data-from-fingers
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/bringing-texture-to-flat-touchscreens-carnegie-mellon-and-northwestern-researchers-provide-new-insight-into-how-brain-understands-data-from-fingersModel of “Virtual Bumps” Could Lead to Feeling a Keyboard in a Touchscreen

What if the touchscreen of your smartphone or tablet could touch you back? What if touch was as integrated into our ubiquitous technology as sight and sound?

Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University researchers have made a discovery that provides insight into how the brain makes sense of data from fingers.

In a study of people drawing their fingers over a flat surface that has two “virtual bumps,” the research team is the first to find that, under certain circumstances, the subjects feel only one bump when there really are two. Better yet, the researchers can explain why the brain comes to this conclusion. Read more....

]]>cnbc-website@cnbc.cmu.edu (The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition)frontpageMon, 09 Feb 2015 05:00:00 +0000MIT's Ed Boyden To Receive Andrew Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Scienceshttp://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/carnegie-mellon-weizmann-institute-researchers-discover-qidiosyncraticq-brain-patterns-in-autism
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/carnegie-mellon-weizmann-institute-researchers-discover-qidiosyncraticq-brain-patterns-in-autismCarnegie Mellon University will award the third annual Andrew Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences to Ed Boyden, associate professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute. treatments.

The prize, given by the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of its centennial celebration, recognizes trailblazers in the mind and brain sciences whose research has helped advance the field and its applications. The CNBC will present the award to Boyden at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 9 in the Rashid Auditorium in CMU's Hillman Center for Future Generation Technologies. Read more...